☆TRACK V: I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE PT. 2

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone in the last part of the log.
What: Everyone has a terrible night.
When: December 7th, 2054
Where: Naomi's ocean side mansion, followed by a secret Pride laboratory.
Warnings: Violence, blood, and at least one murder. Vague gore. NPCs being unhinged in a threatening way, though it's possible to have your character avoid ended up in the ballroom if you don't want to see this mess.

☆I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE The bubble has burst. The chaos of the night’s violence has finally boiled over into something uncontrollable – blood has been spilt, screams have been heard. No matter where you are in the mansion, you know by now that something is acutely wrong. Multiple members of Pride have been hurt – possibly killed – and you may still have no idea why. Some will try to escape. Some will try to fight back. Yet, as any rebellion starts to descend, a piercing note - a melodic cry - will summon you towards the ballroom. It can be resisted, in part - but only as far as you find yourself frozen in place instead of moving forward, at least while this spell holds. It's drawing you to the source...if you follow it, maybe you can stop it. The compulsion is strong for members of both labels. The cry seems to echo long past its termination point, to be heard wherever you are. If followed, it will bring you to Naomi Rivers in the center of the ballroom, her expression creased with strain. Though you may desperately want to strike her, something intangible is holding you back. "No!" she shouts at any Virgo nearby. "It isn't done! You need to...you need to finish this!" She'll point desperately at the nearby Pride, rendered unable to flee. "Get them now!" You don't want to. "Do it!" The compulsion weighs heavily on you - for Virgo, to act, and for Pride to surrender themselves. All subtly has disappeared. This last effort is unconcealed and nearly hysterical. You feel yourself slipping beneath the soundwaves. Power rolls off of her, the energy thick in the air, like something you can taste and smell. You can't do this. "I command-" The fabric of space-time cracks like a peal of thunder. All at once, the spell shatters.

Comments

[panspermia]

There was a better way for this to go, Greg's sure of it. It feels like a loss for things to end here, right now--for once, tonight, he would have liked something to go right. To come out of a conversation feeling better instead of worse. Knowing he has a friend on his side would make this mess seem... not better, but bearable. He supposes he botched that chance.

There's an opportunity, as Sans walks away, to call out again. They can keep trying, until they get it right. Greg doesn't want to be alone.

It's too much, though. He knows it. On top of everything else tonight, this is too messy to navigate. He owes Sans a clear head, a proper response, and he's just too tired to handle that right now.

"Later," he murmurs, likely too quiet for Sans to hear. They'll figure it out. Just not tonight.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"I know. They took almost everyone away."

Luci appears to be the only Carnie left standing, a fact that's starting to weigh on her. She has to distract herself, or she's going to start doing something rash.

"You cold?" she asks, draping her arms around Tamara's shoulders and asking her body to get warmer. She's starting to get the hang of this, even if it's just plain terrifying.

[liarmonstersnappydresser]

[Bill snorts, and whips out his own phone. Fine Celty, two can play at this game.]

AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THIS WILL GET THE KID OUT OF BED FASTER *T R U S T M E.*
YOU HEARD THAT BROAD.

[The threat she made against the entire label. Bill's attention might be on Celty and her screen, but his words are meant for the band mate throwing a hissy-fit behind him.]

"So you're involved in a scandal, big deal! It's no secret working entertainment is shady business, you really think this is the first time something like this has happened?"

[panspermia]

Greg can't possibly know what she remembered. Everyone has such strange things going through their heads; he's given up trying to imagine.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

[loveconservative]

She looks away from him, casting her eyes literally anywhere but at Greg. She shakes her head again. How do you tell someone you don't want to die out of the blue/

[panspermia]

"Okay." He squeezes her shoulder again. "It's okay. I'm really scared too." He can't offer her reassurances, and he won't invade where he's not wanted. But he can remind her she's not alone.

[loveconservative]

"If something happens to us... we won't forget each other, right?" If Blanche gets rid of her--she won't just be forgotten? Any of them? Her band? The kind people she's met?

That guy she didn't like that she pushed off a balcony?

[hanginginthere]

That doesn't make it okay! I st-stabed- I think I killed people!

[HOW CAN ANY COVER UP MAKE IT OKAY. okay apparently he's not all cried out because he's sniveling again, but at least he's trying to wipe his face

...mostly he's just smearing all that around]

I j-just got them talking and t-then I stabbed them when I got close enough and what is wrong with m-m-e!

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

"You, uh..."

He was going to ask if she was all right, but that was a pretty dumb question. Of course she wasn't.

"You hurt at all?"

[losingherhead]

Great work, genius.

Not. Your fault. [Just loud enough for Shen. Because Bill is driving her batty.]

[scalpedsociety]

Tamara shakes her head. "He was bleeding so much..."

"But I want to believe he will be alright."

[wounds]

She was there, then. She watched him get stabbed... He should have been there. He should have tried to do something.

"He will be."

[variaboss]

A voice. Luci? He's in and out of consciousness as he gets colder and colder. He can't get warm...he'll never get warm. Trapped. Trapped in the ice forever. Forever and ever. They'll forget about him, locked in a forgotten subbasement. He'll never see another sunrise. He'll never see the light of day. He'll never breath another breath, suspended in cold excruciating eternity.

He's having troubles focusing. He's between his memories and this right here. "I can't let him win..." Wait...him? No... A little more forcefully. "I can't let them win! We need to know what the fuck just happened and we need to know NOW!" He's shaking so hard though and he's already using the wall to keep him from falling over.

"Luci? Don't let them win okay. I need to sleep, but don't let them win..." Hypothermia is definitely setting in.

[giglio_madonna]

It is a soothing melody. Almost strangely so, in fact, and Luce finds herself wondering if this is what Squalo was speaking of when she ran into the man at the Music Festival. It reaches deep down inside, and she stands at a distance for a while merely listening.

Soon enough, however, she drifts closer and sits down with him. "How are you doing, Greg?" she murmurs, because fussing over others still does her better than anything else.

[scalpedsociety]

For a brief moment, Tamara is surprised at the sudden... warmth of Luci's body and is knocked at of her state. "You're really... warm."

But she's not complaining, she even comes closer to the humanoid space heater.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"No no no no no-- you can't sleep just yet, Xanxus, you didn't see what I saw, I can't do this by myself! Come on, come on!"

Luci focuses on her hands like she had with the chair at the party. Warm, just to keep him warm, that's all she needs right now. She holds his face between her hands, trying to keep him with her.

[cherishthistag]

She snorts. "I guess so," she says. She's not bleeding out onto the floor, at least – she tries not to think about that. Her face hurts – the adrenaline that was driving her nuts all evening kind of distracted her from the physical fact that she was in a fist fight but it sure is there now. It feels particularly weird that her nose is sore, somehow, and she can't really put a finger on why.

"I got punched in the face by one of the kids from Flashstep," she says, with a sort of dull awe, like she can't really believe that happened, in retrospect.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"Yeah. Weird, right?" And that's all Luci's saying on it as she pulls Tamara closer so she can warm up. The woman looked like she was in shock-- some comfort would probably do her good.

Truth be told, Luci couldn't be alone right now anyway.

TIGER UNIVERSE | OPEN

[tigermillionaire]

Tiger is a mess. He didn't want to be here. Moments after they suddenly arrived, all he can think about is how he had wanted to stay with Greg so badly, and how he had been torn away from him again so trivially. Tears are still in his eyes.

"Dad..." he mumbles again, more quietly. The sinking realization of where he is only makes things worse. It's the labs again. He remembers them only in bits and pieces, but just seeing these medical beds is enough to terrify him. At first, all the can do is whirl around in a wide eyed daze of horror, the sound of Lesedi yelling bringing on a desperate sense of panic.

He flees, running on prey-like instinct, and sinks back into a corner and just curls up into a ball. He's way too scared of Lesedi to yell or fight, and he can't find most of his bandmates. It's just him and Molly, now.

Why is this happening to them?

[blindfoldcode]

Because everything is terrible and life is awful, Tiger. It's a lesson Kido has learned well tonight.

Which is made obvious by her sudden appearance a while after their arrival. She's groggy when she wakes up. Why is she waking up in the first place? This is new. And everything fucking hurts. And sitting up doesn't help. She clutches her side when she does, suddenly in a panic, fumbling for the knife she knows should be there.

But it's not. Just a hole in her suit and jacket. And she's just left pale and bloody (god it's everywhere isn't it? Her suit was at least dark enough it wasn't much of a problem but fuck, it's in her hair) and confused, blinking in dim recognition and not entirely sure what's happening.

[tigermillionaire]

And suddenly, Tiger is there.

He's obviously terrified. He sees the blood, and he sees how she just seemed to appear there, and...for a moment he thinks she's dead. But as soon as its clear she's not, he can't help but basically leap onto her medical table, clinging to her for some semblance of safety.

"Kido!" is all he manages, at first.

[blindfoldcode]

What. Child. Oh god, what? She wraps her arms around him without really grasping what's happening. It's instinctual. One hand's in his hair and the other's around his shoulders.

"C-careful, kid. I'm not sure I'm all together, here.

She's gotta still be bleeding right? Like wounds like that one didn't just go away. Stitches? Those would rip open if she wasn't careful but it didn't hurt like it did before. Is she drugged? She wishes she knew what the hell was happening. But despite the weak warning, she isn't letting go.

[giglio_madonna]

Initially, she thinks it's just a bit of hesitancy- being in a strange bathroom, in a house where at least one murder has taken place, after guidance from a woman he doesn't know. When he still doesn't move, however, Luce's brow furrows.

"Dear?" Gently, she reaches over to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention.

After everything that's happened tonight... Who knows what's happening to him? She can't be too careful now.

[giglio_madonna]

[With how everything has spiraled out of control tonight, Luce certainly doesn't feel strong. She just leans against his arm when he sits down next to her, one hand falling from her head so that she can grip at the fabric of her pants. Her words are quiet and low.]

I'm so glad that Ivan and Pao-Lin aren't here to see this...

[giglio_madonna]

Ssshhh. Sshh. No one could really do anything. It's not your fault.

[The state of her shirt is of no consequence. After what she's done tonight, Luce is fairly sure she'd burn it to start with. So she just hugs Tsuna tighter, stroking through his mess of hair.]

Let it out, as much as you need to.